A public trust clearance lasts as long as you stay in the federal position that required it, with a reinvestigation traditionally required every five years for moderate- and high-risk roles. That five-year cycle is now being replaced by continuous vetting under the Trusted Workforce 2.0 initiative, so instead of a fixed expiration date, your determination is validated on an ongoing basis while you remain employed.
The Five-Year Reinvestigation Rule
Under the legacy system that has governed public trust positions for years, how long your determination goes between formal reviews depends on the investigation tier tied to your position’s risk level.
- Tier 2 (moderate-risk public trust): reinvestigation every 5 years.
- Tier 4 (high-risk public trust): reinvestigation every 5 years.
- Tier 1 (low-risk, non-sensitive): historically no set reinvestigation cycle, but investigations older than 10 years are now flagged for review as part of the Trusted Workforce 2.0 transition.1National Institutes of Health. Understanding U.S. Government Background Investigations and Reinvestigations
When your reinvestigation comes due, you submit an updated Standard Form 85 or 85P with current personal, residential, employment, and financial information. The investigating agency combines that questionnaire with records checks to decide whether you remain suitable.2U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Questionnaire for Public Trust Positions A favorable finding carries you into the next cycle. An unfavorable one can lead to removal.
So the honest answer to “how long does it last” under the legacy rules is five years between checks for most public trust positions, with the determination itself remaining active in between as long as you hold the job and nothing surfaces that changes the picture.
Continuous Vetting Is Changing the Timeline
The five-year cadence is being phased out. Under Trusted Workforce 2.0, the government is moving public trust employees into continuous vetting, which runs automated checks against criminal, financial, and other databases throughout your employment rather than waiting for the next scheduled reinvestigation.3U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Continuous Vetting for Non-Sensitive Public Trust Positions
Enrollment of the non-sensitive public trust workforce into continuous vetting began in fiscal year 2024 and was expected to be completed around the end of 2025.4Performance.gov. Trusted Workforce 2.0 Transition Report The scope is broad: federal employees in competitive and excepted service, contractors, and other individuals working on behalf of the executive branch in moderate- or high-risk non-sensitive positions.5U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Continuous Vetting for Non-Sensitive Public Trust Positions
Practically, this shifts the question from “when does mine expire” to “what triggers a review.” A new arrest, a bankruptcy filing, or a significant change in your financial situation can prompt a look at any time. Your determination is being validated continuously rather than on a five-year clock.
When a Determination Ends Before Its Time
Duration is not just about reinvestigation cycles. A public trust determination can end earlier than any scheduled review, and it can end in a few different ways.
The most common is simply leaving the position. Resignation, transfer into a role that doesn’t require a determination, or termination all end the determination, because it is tied to your employment in that role rather than to you as a person indefinitely.
A determination can also be revoked while you’re still in the job. If continuous vetting or a reinvestigation surfaces information that triggers one of the federal suitability factors, the agency can take action ranging from additional scrutiny to removal. The action must follow due process and be proportional to the concern.
Self-reporting affects this heavily. Continuous vetting catches a lot, but you are still expected to proactively report certain events to your agency security office, including arrests or law enforcement contact, significant financial problems like bankruptcy or wage garnishment, foreign travel outside official duties, and ongoing contact with foreign nationals.6Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. Report a Security Change, Concern, or Threat Hiding a reportable event is often treated more seriously than the underlying event, because it raises honesty concerns that adjudicators weigh heavily. When in doubt, report it.
Does the Determination Follow You to a New Agency?
How long your determination “lasts” also depends on whether it travels with you. Under Executive Order 13488, agencies are generally required to grant reciprocal recognition to a prior favorable suitability or fitness determination, provided the gaining agency uses equivalent suitability criteria and you have had no break in employment since the determination was made.7GovInfo. Executive Order 13488 – Granting Reciprocity on Excepted Service and Federal Contractor Employee Fitness and Reinvestigating Individuals in Positions of Public Trust
Reciprocity has limits. A new agency does not have to accept your prior determination if the new position requires a higher level of investigation than your current one, if the agency has obtained new information that calls your fitness into question, or if your record shows conduct incompatible with the duties of the new position.7GovInfo. Executive Order 13488 – Granting Reciprocity on Excepted Service and Federal Contractor Employee Fitness and Reinvestigating Individuals in Positions of Public Trust Moving between comparable moderate-risk roles at different agencies usually will not require starting over. Moving from a low-risk to a high-risk role usually will.
Watch the “no break in employment” condition. If you leave federal service entirely and return later, the gaining agency may need to initiate a new investigation rather than rely on the earlier determination. That effectively resets the clock.
Public Trust Is Not the Same as a Security Clearance
One boundary is worth stating plainly, because it shapes what “how long does it last” actually means. A public trust determination is a suitability or fitness finding, not a security clearance. Security clearances grant access to classified information, use a different form (SF-86), and follow a different adjudicative process. Public trust determinations confirm that you have the character and conduct needed for a position affecting public confidence or government operations, even though the role does not involve classified material.8USAJOBS Help Center. About Background Checks and Security Clearances
If a coworker tells you their public trust “clearance” lasted a certain number of years, they are describing a reinvestigation cycle rather than a fixed clearance term. The rules on duration, portability, and reinvestigation for classified clearances are not the same rules that apply to your public trust position, and mixing them up can lead to wrong assumptions about what your determination requires and how long it stays good.